Play School - Season 8 (1973)

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Aka 91.1 ep#301 Lorraine and John find in the Useful Box some paper cups to hit together to make the sound and rhythm of horses' hooves. They sing the song of the week 'Horsey Horsey'. Through the windows a milkman is doing his rounds with a horse and cart. It is half past one on the clock. The story is about a boy who wanted to be a cowboy and who made a horse from a broom and some old socks. They sing a cowboy song with riding actions. Humpty is given a ride on the Play School rocking horse, Dapple. Through another window there are buckjumpers at a rodeo. Lorraine ...

Aka ep#302 Lorraine and John hit coconut shells together to make the sound of a horse's hooves. 'Horsey Horsey' is sung first in walking rhythm, then a gallop. Through the windows a horse pulls a cart through the city and a mounted policeman on traffic duty. It is half past two on the clock. The story is about Ned Kelly, illustrated by Sidney Nolan paintings, telling how mounted policemen hunted him in the bush, and captured him despite his iron armour. 'Where's Ned Kelly?' is sung. Lorraine makes some armour and a helmet from paper bags and John makes horses using a ...

Aka ep#303 Lorraine and John look at the tails of some goldfish and Lorraine sings a finger play song 'Here is the Sea'. Visitors are seahorses. It is half past three on the clock. The story is about a sea- horse whose tail is caught by an anemone, a shellfish, a crab and another seahorse all told by movements of Lorraine's hands. A hand action song involves clap, slap, rub, knock, shake, grab and snap. Through the windows are a horse and foal in the country, and a horse and cart in the city. Lorraine and John examine the tails of the mice and sing 'Three Blind Mice'....

Aka ep#304 Lorraine and John walk at various speeds: fast, normal, and slow, first with their feet, then with their fingers. 'Let's go Walking' is sung. Through the windows is a street cleaner's horse. Lorraine and John make some 'riding' animals from a chair, pillows, hobby horse, beach- ball etc: first a horse, then a camel (song: 'Humpy Camel') then an elephant (song: 'The Elephant' and action poem: 'An Elephant Goes'). It is half past four on the clock. The story is 'The Circus is Coming' illustrated by pictures of a circus. John dresses and performs as a clown ...

Aka ep#305 Lorraine and John roll a number of things on the floor and find that only the round things roll well. They use half an orange, placed in paint, to make pictures of wheels and they paint motor vehicles around the wheels, a motor bike, car and bus. 'Wheels Keep Turning' is sung. Through the windows is a horse and cart shown over the song of the week 'Horsey Horsey'. It is half past five on the clock. The story is 'Candy and the Pony' by Gwyneth Mamlok, about a girl who learns to ride a pony called Midnight. They sing 'Yankee Doodle'. Through another window a ...

Aka 93.1 ep#311 Jan and John are looking for pairs of objects from the Useful Box. Pursuing the ideas of pairs they clap their hands, blink their eyes and wiggle their ears while singing 'Let's All Clap Together'. John sorts a pile of shoes into pairs. He changes 'I'm The Man With the Wellington Boots' and Jan joins him with 'I'm the Woman with the Pretty Pattern Slippers'. The song of the week 'The Animals Went in Two by Two' is sung. Jan makes a model farm with animals. The farmhouse is a shoebox; the pig a glue bottle with pipe-cleaners and a cork; the duck a ...

Aka ep#312 Jan and John are looking for items of clothing that come in pairs. 'The Animals Went in Two by Two' is sung. Using some clothes found earlier they dress up as characters in the finger play 'Two Fat Gentlemen' and act it out. It is eleven o'clock on the clock. The story is 'Mr. Penny's Hat'. Jan sings 'Rain Is Falling Down'. John paints raindrops. Jan helps him paint a picture of an umbrella. Through the windows umbrellas are being made. John with umbrella sings 'When the Rain is Falling Down' and mimes the opening and closing of an umbrella, inviting ...

Aka ep#313 Jan and John look at the various pairs of Play School pets. Jan does the finger play 'Five Fat Mice'. John and Jan make mouse, rabbit, and elephant ears out of cardboard and mime the actions of these animals. It is nine o'clock on the clock. The story is 'Noah's Ark'. John sings participation song 'Animal Fair'. Cut out felt animals are pinned on the felt board and Jan invites children to help find the pair to each animal. Through the windows is a safari expedition (emphasis on 'finding' the animals'). John builds a four-wheel-drive out of blocks and he and...

Aka ep#314 Jan and John make the sounds of thunder (voices, feet, wobble-board) and rain (peas in box, tapping fingers on shoe box lid, rustling tissue paper). Jan sings 'I Hear Thunder'. They make paper boats out of paper bags. Through the windows there are paper boats. Jan builds an Ark out of blocks and sings 'The Animals Went in Two by Two'. John counts up to ten on fingers and sings 'This Old Man'. Jan continues the counting theme with an illustrated poem. It is half past two on the clock. The story is about a little boy and his two favourite toys. Jan sings '...

Aka ep#315 Jan and John H experiment with containers to discover which are full and which are empty by listening to the different sounds they make when tapped. 'The Animals went in Two by Two' is sung. Jan sings 'Daddy Longlegs' with actions. John H and Jan then mime and sing 'Little Miss Muffet'. John W sings 'Old Mother Hubbard' with Jan over a film on the toys' TV set. It is one o'clock on the clock. John W tells the story of 'The Old Man's Mitten' following it with the song 'Mole in a Hole' with guitar accompaniment. John H and Jan play a 'find-the-toys' game. The...

94.1 ep#316 Alister makes an outline of Jan. He draws the mouth with a crayon. From the Useful Box comes buttons for eyes, wool for hair, and a box for a nose. Scraps of material and paper are used to make a patchwork skirt. Jan sings 'Put Your Finger on Your Nose', then 'mouth', 'hair', 'fingers' and 'near the eyes'. With eyes closed, Jan identifies a number of objects by feeling, identifying such elements as rough and smooth, hard and soft, hot and cold, and identifying shapes. It is four o'clock on the clock. The story is 'Fifteen Bathtubs' by Margaret Wise Brown. ...

Ep#317 Jan and Alister make a pair of glasses for their outline figure. Alister sings 'These are Grandma's Spectacles'. A pair of goggles are made for Big Ted from an egg carton and string because they are going to ride on a motorbike. Alister and Jan don crash helmets, goggles, leather jackets and scarves to ride their 'bikes' of block, garbage tin lid 'wheels' and coat-hanger 'handlebars'. They sing 'Take You Riding'. Jan explains the value of goggles when bike riding. It is three o'clock on the clock. The story is 'New at the Zoo' by Peter Lippman, in which the ...

Aka ep#318 Jan and Alister feed the pets. There is a goat visiting Play School. The goat has rather 'strange' tastes. Through the windows a variety of animals are shown using their sense of taste. Jan sings 'Three Jellyfish', with words referring to good and bad taste. The presenters play an identification-by-taste game. It is three o'clock on the clock. The story is 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea' by Judith Kerr. Alister sings and mimes the tiger and Jan sings and mimes nursery rhymes inviting the viewer to join in. They look at the visiting goat, who is still eating.

Aka ep#319 Jan and Alister give the outline drawing a new nose and Alister dramatises a few fun limericks in the process. Jan plays an identification game with still photographs. She sings 'If You're Happy and You Know It'. Both play an identification-by-smell game, and sing a sniffing song. It is four o'clock on the clock. The story is about animals sniffing. Jan and Alister sing 'I Went To Visit a Farm, One Day'. Through the windows there are animals using their sense of smell.

Aka ep#320 Alister plays the glockenspiel with low notes and high notes; up and down the scales, fast and slow, loud and soft are all experienced. The song 'Up and Down' is sung. A cake tin lid and rubber bands make a guitar; two flat saucepan lids are cymbals; plastic bottles filled with rice are shook and a real drum are the instruments for a band. It is four o'clock on the clock. The story is told with actions. It is called 'Mr Sleepalot Won't Wake Up'. Loud and soft noises are further developed in the song 'I Like Peace, I Like Quiet'. A sound game is played by ...

Aka 95.1 ep#321 Benita and John find milk bottle tops in the Useful Box. Benita makes a milk bottle top tambourine, sings 'My Tambourine'. John accompanies her with a real tambourine then both make some high buildings with blocks, tins and cereal packets as they sing the song of the week 'Build it Up'. They dramatise the rescue of two people from the top of a building by firemen (peg figures) who raise a ladder. Through the windows a ladder is being made. Benita makes the toys climb a step-ladder and sings 'Humpty Climbed the Ladder'. The story is 'The Grand Old Duke ...

Aka ep#322 Benita and John find a pile of shoe boxes. They build them as high as they can as they sing 'Build it Up'. Benita opens all the boxes, looking for shoes. She finds them and other items which she uses to dress up as Miss Gloria Grand who goes to a ball. They listen to waltz music (From 'The Sleeping Beauty') and sway in time to the music. Then strong working music ('Anvil Chorus') for rhythmic hammering, and accelerating 'monster' music ('Hall of the Mountain King') for big stepping and arm-flinging during which John dresses up in sheet, carrier bag and shoe...

Aka ep#323 Benita and John clap the syllables of their names, the names of the toys and the words of 'Build it Up', and the name of the day. The visitor is a cockatoo. They examine its crest and feet and how it walks on its perch and on John's arm. Through the windows there are flamingos. John mimes, and sings 'Standing On One Leg'. The story is about a little girl who can't sit still. Benita and John play musical statues and sing 'You Can Stamp Your Feet'. Through another window there are flamingos, owl, fowls, lyrebird and kookaburra. Benita and John sing 'Let's All...

Aka ep#324 Benita builds a picture of a house and skyscraper on the feltboard, using the shapes of oblongs, squares and triangles, while John sings 'Build it Up'. He uses the same shapes on the floor to make pictures of a boat and robot, then uses circles of thick wool to make pictures of a face and fish. Benita plays a game of musical shapes in the air: circles, oblongs, triangles and squares. The story is about a circle who couldn't make up its mind about what it wanted to be. Both presenters mime and sing about the actions to be observed on a double-decker bus. ...

Aka ep#325 Benita raises and lowers her arms as John blows up and down on his whistle. Then Benita 'builds up' John as she sings 'Build it Up'. They play a guessing game about the name of today. Both present themselves as labourers on a building site and dig a hole in the ground using mock tools: a spade, a pick and a pneumatic drill, as they sing 'The Hole In The Ground'. They look through the ROUND WINDOWS to see film of a building site which features a mechanical scoop, a cement mixer, bricklaying, and a pneumatic drill. Benita sings a drilling song with hand ...

Aka 96.1 ep#326 Lorraine and John use matchboxes to make a train. Other boxes from the Useful Box are used for signals, a station and larger engines for a story. Through the windows a family is travelling on an electric train and there are a variety of different types of trains and rolling stock. The song of the week 'Fast and Slow' is sung. This participation song is used with various actions through the week, with building blocks as the railway lines and figures made of peapods. The matchbox train is tested. John sing 'This Old Man'. It is six o'clock on the clock. ...

Aka ep#327 Lorraine and John bounce a ball and sing the 'Fast and Slow' song. Through the windows are a large variety of ships. Lorraine sings 'Here is the Sea'. Their dress up game centres around the building of various types of boats with large blocks and a few simple extras. 'Boats' is sung with fishing gear for the rowboat, an egg-beater engine for the motor boat and for the ocean liner, the captain has his cap, and passenger has her hat and dark glasses. The clock says six o'clock. The story is told with finger puppets. John sings 'A Sailor Went to Sea' with ...

Aka ep#328 Lorraine and John are preparing the visiting animal's food. John gives a clue to its identity in mime - an elephant. Abu is from Ashton's Circus. John and Lorraine look at her and feed her. Her trainer gets her to show some simple tricks. Through the windows various animals are shown working for humans, including horses, donkeys, elephants and camels. Dapple with cushion hump is a camel for Humpty to ride. 'Donkey Riding' is sung. Dapple is moved fast and slow, leading to the week's action song. It is six o'clock on the clock. The story is 'Four to Get ...

Aka ep#329 Lorraine and John pin children's transport pictures on the picture-board. 'Fast and Slow' is sung. Through the windows we see roadmaking and vehicles using the roads. Lorraine sings 'I'd Like to Drive a Big Blue Bus'. A bus is built with cardboard cartons and, with the toys as passengers, John drives the 'bus' and Lorraine is conductress. 'Round and Round' is an action song sung with the 'bus'. It is six o'clock on the clock. The story is 'Clanky the Mechanical Boy' by Kenneth Mahood, about a robot and a car factory. Lorraine designs a cardboard carton car ...

Aka ep#330 The pictures on the noticeboard are changed so that they recap the points of the week through the children's pictures. Lorraine sings 'I'd like to Drive a Big Blue Bus'. Having blown up a balloon, an attempt is made to keep it flying in the air by blowing. Through the windows there are flying animals, and rockets, jets, propeller driven planes, birds and insects. Lorraine moves her hands like a butterfly then sings 'Little Peter Rabbit'. John mimes a helicopter and sings 'Zoom Zoom'. It is six o'clock on the clock. The story is told with the toys and a ...

Aka 97.1 ep#331 Jan and John make a milk bottle top tinkler from a small paper plate, lengths of wool and milk bottle tops. All items come from the Useful Box. The poem of the week 'Wind' is recited and is accompanied by footage of 'windy' situations. John experiments with making the sound of the wind with his voice. Jan sings 'In The Windy Weather' with actions. John makes more wind noises on a kazoo made from the inside of a lunchwrap roll, tissue paper and rubber band. Jan plays nursery rhymes on the recorder asking John and the viewer to identify them. It is ...

Aka ep#332 Jan and John blow the Tinkler they made on Monday and sing 'In the Windy Windy Weather'. Both make kites from pieces of paper and string. John extends this by miming a kite action with his hand. It is half past twelve on the clock. The story is 'Zozo Flies a Kite' by Margret Rey. John sings 'Jimmy Monkey'. Jan says a poem with a peg doll dressed as a parachutist. The peg has strings and a piece of light plastic attached to form the parachute. Through the windows there are parachutists. John and Jan dress up in real parachutist gear, and go parachuting in a ...

Aka ep#333 The visiting pet is a cockatoo. Attention is given to his wings and how he flies. John mimes little birds flying and big birds flying then sings 'Jump' with slow and quick flapping for participation. Jan makes a bird from corks, matchsticks and feathers. She sings 'Zoom'. It is two o'clock on the clock. The story is 'Who Took the Farmer's Hat?' by Joan L Nodset. Jan sings 'Over in the Meadow' and shows a real bird's nest, then proceeds to make one out of twigs, leaves, feathers, etc. Through the windows there is a bird in flight. Jan sings 'Who Has Seen the...

Aka ep#334 Jan and John W listen to the sound a wind machine creates then John draws a free expression painting to the different sounds of the wind machine. The poem 'Wind' is recited. John W mimes washing hanging on a line and sings a song about it. Jan dresses Jemima as a scarecrow and sings 'When All the Cows are Sleeping'. It is three o'clock on the clock. The story is 'The Scarecrow and the Dandelion'. Through the windows John H is with a group of children flying kites. John W washes his hair by blowing it with a hair-dryer.

Aka ep#335 A leaf mobile is made from leaves and string suspended from a coathanger. The concept of balance is introduced. 'Wind' is recited. Jan floats leaves on water and John sails a boat made from a matchbox, pop stick, stick and leaf. Both sing 'Two Little Boats'. Through the windows John H and children are sailing model boats. Jan does a finger play 'Five Little Ships'. John W makes a picture by blowing paint through a straw. He extends Jan's blowing up of a balloon into a mime segment. It is half past ten on the clock. The story is 'Gilberto and the Wind' by ...

Aka 98.1 ep#336 Benita and John thread together some bits and pieces from the Useful Box: paper cups, cotton reels, cardboard cylinders, matchboxes, etc, to make a mobile. They make a necklace with macaroni and bottle tops, and an ear ring with bottle tops and pipe cleaners. The picture of the week is: animated building blocks which build up and fall down. Benita puts on her make up and sings 'Put Your Finger On Your Nose' (then lips, cheek and fingers). The story is 'A Big Ball of String' by Marion Holland. John mimes a balloon inflating and deflating. They draw ...

Aka ep#337 The toys are dressed up for an observation and memory game. John H pretends to be Mr. Fish who lives in the river: he is repeatedly asked, 'Mr. Fish, Mr. Fish, who can come over the river?' and he allows someone wearing a nominated article of clothing to cross. John W builds a tower of blocks and sings 'Build It Up'. John mimes a building going up then collapsing. Benita sings a cumulative action song, 'Let Everyone Join In The Game'. It is four o'clock on the clock. The story is about a new striped shirt, enacted by the three presenters. Old clothes from ...

Aka ep#338 Benita and John look at the housing and living space of the mice, budgies, goldfish and guineapigs. John constructs a henrun, the wire fence to keep them safe and stop them running away. They feed the visitors, a hen and chicks and say the poem 'Said the First Little Chicken', then sing 'Old Macdonald'. Participation is invited on animal noises. The story is 'The Lost Puppy', about a dog who gets out of his yard when a gate is left open. John sings 'Five Little Puppydogs', a fingerplay. Benita looks at pictures, trying to find some hidden animals. John ...

Aka ep#339 Benita and John sing a name song, 'What Do You Think My Name Is?' which involves toys and viewer. John topples a pile of matchboxes, then sticks then on his collage which gradually takes the form of a house when he adds pop sticks. Benita sings 'Build the House Up Very High', first with hand actions, followed by a mime. John pretends to consider buying the 'brick' Benitahouse. The story is about building three houses and making a junk sculpture: a cow. They present a silly verse about mooing and chewing, then look at pictures of other junk sculpture. John ...

Aka ep#340 John is hiding behind an old door, and Benita asks him to come out. They use the old door raised at one end to find out how well various things will roll down. They build a billycart with wheels and axles from an old pram, a length of timber and a box. Benita sings an action song, 'Johnny Works With One Hammer' then, with the toys aboard, rides down the slope of the old door. It is eight o'clock on the flower clock with a bus on a road, underneath. The story is 'The Bold Bad Bus' by Wilma Horsbrugh. An action song incorporates the main feature of the story ...